Knees are 'literally being crushed by excess weight'

With a quarter of UK workers suffering from knee pain, experts say that the rising levels of obesity and desk based jobs are to blame for the condition.

A rise in the internet and office based jobs has been blamed for the painful knee condition

A new survey by Nuffield Health has discovered that almost a quarter of 1,600 workers aged 16 to 25 said they had been living with knee pain for up to two years.

People over the age of 55 suffer from painful knee joints the most, with one in ten questioned admitting that they live in constant pain.

Physiotherapists say the rise of the internet and desk based jobs are causing the condition, dubbed ‘office knee’.

Sammy Margo, a spokesperson for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: “I have seen a huge surge in the number of people with knee pain and it is down to the sedentary lifestyle people are leading now.

“It is very much people with desk based jobs, and some of them have been working for ten to 20 years in these roles”.

“I have been a physiotherapist for the past 25 years and in that time we have had the advent of the internet, which has been very much a factor.”

But consultant orthopaedic surgeon Ronan Banim believes the UK obesity crisis is also to blame for the rise in knee pain. He said:

“In clinics, we are seeing knees that are literally being crushed by excess weight. This increases the long-term risk of osteoarthritis.”

He urges people to control their weight through regular gentle exercise and healthy eating to prevent a surge in knee replacement operations.

Professor Alan Silman, medical director at Arthritis Research UK, said: “Obesity is major risk factor for developing osteoarthritis. But losing weight, however modest, is a panacea at every stage.”

Many medical insurance policies offer discounted gym memberships to encourage customers to live a healthy lifestyle.

Knees are 'literally being crushed by excess weight'With a quarter of UK workers suffering from knee pain, experts say that the rising levels of obesity and desk based jobs are to blame for thFollow @activequote

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